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Cape Town - In a move that can potentially reduce the hassle of online shopping delivery, a fuel company has partnered with a distribution firm to roll out a unique set of boxes.
Engen announced earlier this week that it has partnered with distribution firm UTi to expand the roll-out of 'ByBoxes' at the fuel stops.
The idea is that customers order from an online vendor, and instead of paying extra to have products delivered at home, they can opt to pick them up at their local Engen fuel station.
"When ordering online, shoppers simply select the ByBox delivery option to their nearest locker at selected Engen service stations," said Greg Saffy, MD of UTi Distribution.
Consumers will be sent an SMS with the delivery location and PIN to access the locker.
Delivery fee barrier
The initiative is similar to one that operates in the UK and Europe where online shopping customers can receive parcels. However, the UK service recently announced that it was closing down its consumer division and focusing on its business to business operations instead.
In the UK, delivery costs were around £2.50 per parcel (about R44) on a 'pay as you go' basis. The service also faced competition at that price point from online retailers such as Amazon and eBay.
In SA, some online retailers offer no delivery fee for goods above a certain price point and there is continued pressure to reduce delivery fess as a barrier to encourage consumers to shop online.
Online retail is nevertheless taking off in SA.
Mobile device shopping is a driver for online shopping. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)
Currently, the retail market for consumer goods in SA is approximately R800bn, of which less than 2% is online, according to e-tailer takealot.
During the 2014 shopping season, online retailers did well. Loot.co.za, for example, had an average 62% year on year growth in a number of their general merchandise categories.
In addition, 40% of Loot's customers over the season came via mobile phones and tablets and revenue from phones jumped a whopping 300%.
SA's online appetite
"We are very happy with our festive season trading results. We wanted to tick all the boxes over this peak period, and we did," said CEO Gary Hadfield.
Juniper Research reports that mobile e-commerce sales amounted to $1.5 trillion in 2013, and is projected to hit over $3.2 trillion by 2017.
In SA, the growth of online payments of virtual products has demonstrated that there is an appetite for online payments that is simple, yet secure to use.
"One part of that is building sites that are easy to use and highly visible to search engines; but an equally important part is making sure that the shopping cart and payment gateway are flexible and robust enough to meet all the client's needs as they grow," said Michael Richards of SiteMeUp Online Marketing.
But it can't all happen immediately. Engen is rolling out the ByBox programme to five service stations in Johannesburg's northern suburbs of Sandton and Woomead initially.
"Engen is all about convenient, innovative solutions for our customers, and this service is another way that we are trying to make life better for them," said Dumisani Bengu, retail business manager at Engen.
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